Jarrett Tough Guy to Catch

Jarrett Tough Guy to Catch

Article excerpt

DAYTONA BEACH -- With about five laps to go, Kelley Jarrett and the kids were getting antsy. They wanted to hurry down to victory lane.

"But we heard on the radio that Dale Earnhardt was trying to take the lead," she said. "We thought it would look pretty foolish if we're down there waiting and we didn't win the race."

No need to worry. Nobody, not even Earnhardt, could catch Kelley's husband for the victory at the Pepsi 400 on Saturday night. And the next question is: Can anyone cut into Dale Jarrett's commanding lead in the Winston Cup points standings?

The victory gave one of stock car racing's most popular divers a 177-point lead over Bobby Labonte heading into the second half of the season.

Not since 1992, when Alan Kulwicki overtook Davey Allison in the last race of the season, has someone leading at the halfway point failed to win the championship.

"That's a good stat to know," said Jarrett, in pursuit of his first series title. "I don't want to end that string.

"Without sounding cocky or overconfident, if we can continue doing what we've done, they'll have trouble catching us. But it only takes one race to make this a close battle."

Jarrett, however, has been the most unlikely candidate to throw in a stinker this season.

His only bad effort came on opening week in the Daytona 500, an event he won in 1993 and 1996. This time, Jarrett was involved in a multicar accident that resulted in a 37th-place finish.

Since then, he has finished out of the top 10 only once, a 16-race stretch of consistency unlike any the 15-year veteran can recall.

"I can't remember being involved in anything like it," Jarrett said.

"We've overcome some things where we shouldn't have finished in the top 10 and we did," he added.

"We've done things we need to do to win championships. There have been days we needed all 500 miles, or all 600 miles, to get the car right. But we continued to work on it and get it right."